THEODORE D. SEGAL POINT OF RECKONING THE FIGHT FOR RACIAL JUSTICE AT DUKE UNIVERSITY Point of Reckoning Theodore d. Segal POINT OF RECKONING The Fight for Racial Justice at Duke University Duke University Press ​· ​Durham and London ​· ​2021 © 2021 Theodore D. Segal All rights reserved Printed in the United States of Amer i ca on acid- free paper ∞ Designed by Matthew Tauch Typeset in Whitman by Westchester Publishing Services Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Segal, Theodore D., [date] author. Title: Point of reckoning : the fight for racial justice at Duke University / Theodore D. Segal. Description: Durham : Duke University Press, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: lccn 2020021181 (print) | lccn 2020021182 (ebook) | isbn 9781478010401 (hardcover) | isbn 9781478011422 ( paperback) | isbn 9781478012955 (ebook) Subjects: lcsh: Duke University— Students. | African American college students— North Carolina— Durham— History—20th century. | Racism in higher education— North Carolina— Durham— History—20th century. | Racism— North Carolina— Durham— History—20th century. | Durham (N.C.)— Race relations— History—20th century. Classification: lcc lc2803.d87 s443 2021 (print) | lcc lc2803.d87 (ebook) | ddc 378.1/9829960730756563— dc23 lc rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2020021181 lc ebook rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2020021182 Cover art: (clockwise from top left) Policeman approach- ing unidentified student, from Chanticleer, 1969; Allen Building study-in, November 13, 1967; Allen Building takeover supporters being tear-gassed, February 13, 1969; Duke’s first three African American graduates (left to right: Wilhelmina Reuben, Nathaniel White Jr., and Mary Mitchell Harris), 1967; Allen Building takeover, February 13, 1969. Photos courtesy of David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke University and Duke University Archives. duke university We stood yester-mor n on the campus of the gre at Duke University, amazed at its vastness and magnificence. We thought of the stupendous sum of money spent by the Dukes to make this one of Amer i ca’s greatest educational institutions. We thought of the tobacco industry and its rise to one of the largest business enterprises in the world. We thought of the blood of Negro men, women and children that had gone into the buildings to make up Duke University, and we likened them unto the bodies of Chinese slaves thrown into the Great Wall of China when it was erected. Like a great pa norama, this throng of our forefathers passed before us. ​some with stooped shoulders, bowed heads and pinched brows made so in order, that a gre at institution of learning might come into existence. As they trod their weary way, the earth shook about us. We thought of the great God who sits in judgment over the affairs of mankind and thought of questioning him about the justice of permitting the blood to be squeezed out of black bodies to build a university for white minds . ​only white minds.— “My Lord what a morning.” If white people have labored in the factories of the American tobacco industry for less than enough on which to live, they have had the satisfac- tion of knowing that their children may reap the benefits in a school that provides the very best training. If Negroes have done the same thing, it must pierce their hearts to know that Duke University has been built for every other race under the sun but theirs. Chinese, Japa nese, Germans, Rus sians or any other foreign race may be admitted to the school; but the American Negro stands alone as the one human being on earth, too loathsome in the eyes of the American white man to share the benefits of Duke University. Is this the price of humbleness? Is this the price of faithfulness? Where is justice? Where is right? Where is God? We left Duke University at high noon. The sun had reached its zenith and was casting its brilliant rays upon the school’s massive buildings. Every- thing was in contour and detail; but they tell us the sun went down and that there was darkness— black darkness. My Lord, what a night! L. E. Austin, publisher Carolina Times May 6, 1939 For The Black students who Forced duke To conFronT its Jim crow past; and For ­thoSe who Sustain The strug gle For racial Justice and incluSion aT duke and Beyond CONTENTS xi List of Abbreviations xiii List of Key Actors xv Acknowl edgments 1 Introduction: A Historic Encounter 5 chapTer 1 A Plantation System: Desegregation 32 chapTer 2 Like Bare Skin and Putting Salt on It: First Encounters 60 chapTer 3 Rights, as Opposed to Privileges: Race and Space 102 chapTer 4 We Were Their Sons and Daughters: Occupation of University House 125 chapTer 5 Hope Takes Its Last Stand: The Silent Vigil 160 chapTer 6 Humiliating to Plead for Our Humanity: Negotiations 182 chapTer 7 Now They Know, and They Ain’t Gonna Do: Planning 208 chapTer 8 No Option to Negotiate: Confrontation 242 chapTer 9 We Shall Have Cocktails in the Gloaming: Aftermath 276 Epilogue: Something Has to Change—2019, Fifty Years Later 287 Notes 347 Bibliography 357 Index ABBREVIATIONS a&aa ​· ​African and Afro- American aas ​· ​Afro- American Society asdu ​· ​Associated Students of Duke University Endowment ​· ​the Duke Endowment Indenture ​· ​the Indenture and Deed of Trust of Personalty establishing the Duke Endowment msga ​· ​Men’s Student Government Association ncc ​· ​North Carolina College at Durham (pre de ces sor to North Carolina Central University) sae ​· ​Sigma Alpha Epsilon sds ​· ​Students for a Demo cratic Society sfac ​· ​Student Faculty Administrative Committee sncc ​· ​Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Special Committee ​· ​Special Trustee- Administrative Committee unc ​· ​University of North Carolina uppac · University Policy and Planning Advisory Committee wsga · ​­Women’s Student Government Association KEY ACTORS AND THEIR ROLES, 1963–1969 Name ​· Position ­Unless other wise noted, all positions are with Duke University. William G. Anlyan ​· ​dean, School of Medicine, 1964–69 Brenda E. Armstrong ​· ​student; chair and member of aaS Frank L. Ashmore ​· ​vice president, institutional advancement, 1963–73 Tony L. Axam ​· ​student; member of aaS W. Waldo Beach ​· ​professor, divinity school Charles L. Becton ​· ​law student; member of aaS John C. “Jack” Boger ​· ​student; Vigil Committee of 10 Brenda C. Brown ​· ​student; member of aaS Edwin C. Bryson ​· ​university counsel, 1947–71 Louis J. Budd ​· ​professor, En glish; chair of Budd Committee Stokely Carmichael ​· ​chair, Sncc William H. Cartwright ​· ​professor, education; chair, Academic Council John W. Cell ​· ​professor, history Claudius B. Claiborne ​· ​student; member of aaS R. Taylor Cole ​· ​provost, 1960–69 Samuel DuBois Cook ​· ​professor, po liti cal science Robert E. Cushman ​· ​dean, divinity school, 1958–71 A. Hollis Edens ​· ​president, 1949–60 Henry A. Fairbank ​· ​professor and chair, physics Howard L. Fuller ​· ​director of community development, Operation Breakthrough Dick Gregory ​· ​Black activist; comedian; author William J. Griffith ​· ​director of student union, 1954–67; assistant to the provost in the area of student affairs, 1963–69; assistant dean, College of Arts and Sciences, 1964–69; assistant provost and dean, College of Arts and Sciences, 1969–79 J. Deryl Hart ​· ​president, 1960–63 Oliver Harvey ​· ​janitor; labor or ga nizer J. Lee Hatcher ​· ​law student; member of aaS David M. Henderson ​· ​student; Vigil Committee of 10 Marcus E. Hobbs ​· ​vice assistant provost and dean of the university, 1960–62, vice pro- vost and dean of the university, 1962–63; provost, 1969–70 Joyce A. Hobson ​· ​student; member of aaS Charles W. “Chuck” Hopkins ​· ​student; chair and member of aaS Bertie R. Howard ​· ​student; member of aaS Charles B. Huestis ​· ​vice president, business and finance, 1966–85 Gene Kendall ​· ​student; one of “first five” Black undergraduates to attend Duke Alan C. Kerckhoff ​· ​professor, sociology; chair, Kerckhoff Committee Jonathan C. Kinney ​· ​student; aSdu president; Vigil Committee of 10 Douglas M. Knight ​· ​president, 1963–69 Harold W. Lewis ​· ​vice provost and dean, College of Arts and Sciences, 1963–69; vice provost and dean of the faculty, 1969–80 Michael R. McBride ​· ​student; chair and member of aaS Stef McLeod ​· ​student; member of aaS Mary Mitchell ​· ​student; one of “first five” Black undergraduates to attend Duke Clarence G. Newsome ​· ​student; member of aaS Rufus H. Powell ​· ​secretary of the university, 1966–81 A. Kenneth Pye ​· ​dean, law school, 1968–70 Henry E. Rauch ​· ​trustee; member, Special Trustee- Administrative Committee Wilhemina M. Reuben ​· ​student; May Queen; one of “first five” Black undergraduates to attend Duke Margaret “Bunny” Small ​· ​student; Vigil Committee of 10 Cassandra Smith ​· ​student; one of “first five” Black undergraduates to attend Duke John H. Strange ​· ​professor, po liti cal science Wright Tisdale ​· ​chair, 1963–68, and trustee, board of trustees William C. Turner Jr. ​· ​student; member of aaS Charles B. Wade Jr. ​· ​chair, 1968–71, and trustee, board of trustees; member, Special Trustee- Administrative Committee Richard L. Watson Jr. ​· ​professor and chair, history Nathaniel B. White Jr. ​· ​student; one of “first five” Black undergraduates to attend Duke Janice Williams ​· ​student; member of aaS Barnes Woodhall ​· ​vice provost and dean, School of Medicine, 1962–64; vice provost in charge of medical affairs, 1964–67; associate provost, medical affairs, 1967–69; chancel- lor pro tem, 1969–70 Bunyan S. Womble ​· ​chair, 1960–63, and trustee, board of trustees xiv Key Actors ACKNOWL EDGMENTS When I left gradu ate school in 1979, I promised my history professor Bill Chafe and myself that I would complete the master’s thesis I had started on Black campus activism at Duke in the 1960s. After a reakb of more than forty years, this book is the fulfillment of that promise. Returning to a topic I had last looked at as a young man was fascinating, absorbing, disorienting, and surreal. Turning that experience into a book would never have happened without the assistance and support of many people.